Arrest Héctor Guerrero Flores, known as “Niño Guerrero” and leader of the Tren de Aragua mega-gang, andIt is not just an objective of the Venezuelan authorities.
The police forces of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru joined the search for Guerrero, after the government of President Nicolás Maduro did not managed to arrest him during the operation to regain control of the prison that served as the operations center of the most important criminal organization in Venezuela and one of the most powerful in the region.
On September 21, 11,000 Venezuelan police and military personnel entered Tocorón, a Venezuelan prison located about 140 kilometers southwest of Caracas, which was dominated for years by Guerrero and the members of the Aragua Train.
However, the authorities did not find “Child Warrior” inside the prison. Maduro said that “corrupt” officials notified the leader of the Aragua Train of the operation so that he could escape.
“Unfortunately, due to the corruption of a group of officials who are already imprisoned, they alerted these prans and criminals of the liberation operation. “They are detained and will be tried and punished.”Maduro stated in a television address on Monday, September 25.
The president said that his government will offer a reward to anyone who offers information about Guerrero’s whereabouts.
He stated that 88 people linked to the organization were detained and stated that he asked the authorities of other countries for help to arrest other fugitives from the criminal group.
“We have coordinated with the governments of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile so that the search, persecution and capture operation against these criminals is international,” he said.
The Venezuelan Minister of Interior Relations, Remigio Ceballos, added that Venezuela is positioned “geopolitically to collaborate and contribute to the citizen security bodies” of other countries, with which it is in “permanent contact.”
However, the NGO Venezuelan Prison Observatory, specialized in defending the human rights of inmates, warned in a statement that Guerrero had negotiated with the government for his release before taking over the prison.
International alert
The Minister of the Interior of Peru, Vicente Romero, assured that the Peruvian authorities redoubled their surveillance and police intelligence work to prevent the “Niño Guerrero” from entering the country.
For his part, General Óscar Arriola, head of the National Directorate of Criminal Investigation of Peru, said that his country’s government will offer a reward to those who provide information that leads to Guerrero’s capture.
In the Peruvian Ministry of the Interior “there is a rewards commission that operates in the vice-ministry of Internal Order,” Arriola said according to local newspapers.
He added that the authorities in Lima act in coordination with the government of Venezuela and maintain “official communications” with Colombia, Ecuador and Chile to capture the leader of the Aragua Train.
“First (we decided) to look very closely at the border, at the same time to do an analysis, and then from the investigation and intelligence we also look at those people that we have under investigation and who are main members of this transnational mega-gang,” he indicated.
For their part, Colombian authorities issued an arrest warrant against Guerrero.
Sandra Patricia Hernández, commander of the Bogotá Metropolitan Police, pointed out that the authorities are working together with Interpol given the possibility that Guerrero is in Colombia, the newspaper El Tiempo reported.
The Minister of the Interior of Ecuador, Juan Zapata, told the newspaper El Expreso that his office took “the corresponding actions” to prevent Guerrero from entering Ecuadorian territory.
The members of the Aragua Train have been on the radar of the authorities of other South American countries for more than a year.
In July 2022, President Gabriel Boric said that the members of that organization were not “welcome in Chile.”
“We are going to persecute them, we are going to imprison them, and if necessary, we are going to expel them,” he added. “We are not going to tolerate caring about crime.”
What is known about the “Warrior Boy”?
Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores was born and raised in Maracay, capital of the state of Aragua, in north-central Venezuela.
Venezuelan judicial authorities report that Guerrero began his criminal career in the early 2000s and was accused of shooting a police officer who died in 2005.
“Niño Guerrero” was arrested in 2010, when he entered the Tocorón prison for the first time, on charges of drug trafficking, homicide and robbery.
Two years later he managed to escape and committed new crimes that led him to become one of the most wanted criminals in Venezuela.
Guerrero was captured again in 2013 and was held once again in the Tocorón prison.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the crimes of homicide, drug trafficking, identity theft and concealment of weapons of war, among other charges in 2018, for which he has not served his entire sentence.
Venezuelan journalist and researcher Ronna Rísquez, author of the book “El Tren de Aragua. The gang that revolutionized organized crime in Latin America”, warns that the intervention in the prison where this mega-gang emerged does not imply that the organization has been dismantled.
In addition to finding war weapons, grenades, explosives, rocket launchers and ammunition, the Venezuelan authorities indicated that in the prison they discovered tunnels to the outside and the escape of the inmates was thwarted during the operation.
The prison had facilities similar to those of a hotel, such as a swimming pool, nightclub, playground, casino, restaurants with terraces, bars, liquor stores, ATMs and even a zoo that exhibited jaguars, pumas and ostriches.
BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cn39l8ej4vvo, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-09-26 18:10:06
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